Jaden leaned against her X-wing that stood on the landing platform deep in the mountains of Bakura. The power station she'd come to check out rose ominously in the distance. She itched to go inside, as it looked deserted, but still she waited. She was waiting for Kyle to show up and help with the mission. She checked her com again, no answer.

"Where are you, Kyle? I've been waiting here forever," she whispered to herself, crossing her arms to lean back against her X-wing again. It'd been like this for nearly two hours. She had been standing, waiting, pacing, and stretching on occasion, all the while trying to check in with Kyle, but still there would be no answer. She knew that one of the virtues of the Jedi was patience, but this?

She straightened up and threw her hands in the air in frustration. "Well, I can't wait around! I've got to do something." She looked up at the imposing form of the power station. "This can't be that hard to check out. In, out, twenty minutes, thirty tops." She stopped, she was talking to herself again. "Whatever," she muttered, checking that her blaster was fully loaded, her lightsaber secured to her belt. It was warmer here in the mountains. Probably because of the dormant volcano. She left her jacket in the cockpit. She wore a pair of gray pants with a reddish brown stripe running down the outside of the pant leg. They had come with a set of new clothes that the Academy had provided. Her shirt was something she'd brought from Coruscant and had worn on her first day. It was short sleeved, a blue-green color with grayish-silver trim and accents. It was kind of plain compared to the newer fashions and out of date; but it was still one of her favorites, having once belonged to her mother. When asked by Arta-Mess why she'd want to wear it on missions she'd simply replied that it was what her mom would want instead of being stuffed inside a trunk, perfectly preserved. It could go on all her adventures, and in a strange way, so could her mom. It kept her close rather than distant.

She plucked her way along the wide walkway of the landing platform leading to the station's entrance. Not far from the door, she saw the body. Running the last few yards, she knelt beside the lone figure. He was older, probably in his fifties, wearing maintenance coveralls. He was cold and stiff, he'd been dead awhile. There were blaster marks on his chest. She looked away, the sight of it making her feel cold, clammy, and nauseous. Should have brought the jacket. She took long, slow breaths to try and calm her pulsing heart rate. Slowly, more quietly, she stood up. Not far away, close to the door, was another body, it was in the same condition as the first; it also had blaster marks on it. They must have been part of the team sent to investigate the station. This has to have something to do with the 'unknown party.'

She approached the door, hand on her saber hilt. Inside was a small room with a door on either end of it. Near the door to her left was a set of computer monitors. Going up to them, she pressed a button that would turn it on and the image of a room full of tanks containing various liquids colored red and blue was shown. Two armed men in what appeared to be military uniforms stood next to each other as a third messed with something she couldn't see at his feet, he was blocking her view. She couldn't just see, but hear what they were talking about. The third man straightened up, turning to address the others.

"The charges are set sir."

"Good!" Replied the man on the right of the screen. He was taller than the others, his uniform seemingly of higher rank. His well groomed blonde hair shone in the dim light. "The Republic is getting complacent. They underestimate us. This will remind them what happens to traitors."

Jaden didn't like this, not one bit. The thing that that man had been tinkering with on the floor was a bomb! Quickly, she checked the other video feeds throughout the whole facility and sure enough, four other charges, similar to the first, were seemingly spread out in different areas of the power station. Turning off the monitor, she stepped away from it. They're going to blow the whole installation! I have to stop that countdown!

She fumbled with her comlink and called for Kyle, still no answer. "Oh Kyle, where are you?!" Glancing at the door, she made a decision, Okay, no one knows I'm here, I can probably sneak around and diffuse the bombs, that should give Kyle enough time to get here… or answer back.

Suddenly, a loud voice called out from somewhere behind the door in front of her. It sounded like the officer who'd said that the Republic was getting complacent.

"We have an intruder! Take positions!"

Oh, Sithspit.

"Ready!" This one sounded like the man who'd set that last charge.

The door opened and stormtroopers poured out. Blaster fire filled the air, but the intruder they were after was missing. They lowered their weapons, looking around the empty room in confusion. One, two, three… I take em.

From above, perched on top of the narrow ledge of the doorframe, Jaden leaned back against the wall, saber hilt gripped in her hand. She silently counted.

The troopers were as confused and caught off guard as Jaden had hoped they'd be. They barely got off any shots and those were either way off mark or an involuntary response from their fingers as they fell down dead beneath Jaden's lightsaber blade. She took a moment to catch her breath. No one else came through the door but surely everyone in the station knew she was there.

No wonder I was supposed to wait for Kyle. It's the Empire!

She ran through the door the troopers had come in by. Clear. Then up a flight of stairs, through a door on the landing. She nearly slammed into an equally surprised stormtrooper. Her blade flew up, gutting right into his abdomen. He dropped dead to the floor, barely stalling her. No problem Jaden, just keep going.

To the left was a short hallway and in front, a steep ramp leading up to a door. She decided to take the ramp first, but stopped. Soft blue lines spread out before her. Tripwires. There were four of them lined up the wall. Now why would they be trying to protect this route? She took several steps back, glancing over her shoulder to be sure she was still alone, and one by one shot the tripmines with her blaster. All clear, she passed through the door at the top with caution. What more booby traps had the Imperials set, she couldn't tell, but wasn't about to risk her limbs for it. The door led outside onto an elevated walkway to a platform with a lift that went down. Looking down, Jaden realized how high up she was and staring at the platform she saw that underneath it was a large, cylindrical container. For refining minerals. Very volatile. On top of the platform in front of her stood the first bomb, she recognised it immediately from the camera feed. Kneeling down, she examined it. It wasn't a complicated thing like others she'd learned about at the Academy. She figured the Imperials never thought that someone was going to try to ruin their plans because of how isolated they were here. It didn't take long to turn it off.

"Okay, four more to go." Jaden closed her eyes, seeing the images on the monitor showing her the locations of the other explosives. She didn't know where they were, but at least knew what the surrounding area looked like. Standing up, she tried to call Kyle again on her comlink. "Kyle, hello? Kyle? Please pick up, it's an emergency!"

Nothing. She was on her own. Was Kyle and Rosh's mission really that important for him to miss her calls? Or had Rosh somehow gotten ahold of Kyle's com and was keeping him from- Stop it Jaden, that's stupid and paranoid! Rosh would never, not with life or- The training droid was life or death. But he didn't know that. Focus Jaden, Rosh is your friend and Kyle's your master, they're indisposed for some reason and you're gonna have to do things on your own. There's five bombs and you've just successfully disarmed one of them, now, let's take care of the last four!

Jaden raced silently back down the ramp and took the left hallway. Sensing stormtroopers in the next room, she moved stealthily, then struck. Once they were all down, she took in her bearings. It was a control room with a window to the outside, a high platform like the one she'd just been on, except the bomb that sat there was guarded by someone. Two someone's in fact, but they were hard to see, at first they were solid, black in their dark tactical gear, then one of them disappeared entirely. Jaden cocked her head. What in the galaxy…? It had to be some kind of camouflage. Probably illegal too.

She ducked down, hoping they hadn't seen her and snuck through the door at the end of the room. A door to the right told her that this was probably the right way to that second platform. The door opened, and she saw no one.

"Well, who's this?" Came a voice to her right. She lashed out quickly, saber piercing through flesh she couldn't see, then, he appeared, at first a kind of translucence shimmering in the dull sunlight, then solidifying as he fell to the ground dead.

"Stay where you are!" This time in front of her, near the bomb. That translucent sheen catching her eye as the lone figure turned around and opened fire. She deflected easily, the bolt hitting her target square in the chest.

"Three more." Jaden tried to call Kyle again. Nothing, but she decided she would keep checking in, if only for the sake of her nerves and sanity.

Captain Issak stood in the refinery room with his hands clasped behind him. Everything was going according to plan. Almost. If it wasn't for that nosy intruder. He should have realized that the rotten Republic would get involved somehow. Though his agents hadn't positively identified the interloper, he was sure they would be back on schedule soon. And he wasn't going to leave until they were caught, only then could his plan continue smoothly. He lifted his comlink from the breast pocket of his impeccably pressed uniform.

"This is Captain Issak calling for Commander Dravus. Come in."

"Dravus here."

"Have you any news on the interloper?"

"Not yet, sir."

"What do you mean? Surely one trespasser isn't too hard for you to handle?" Issak's tone was clipped, but he managed to keep it calm.

Dravus was silent for a moment.

"That's just the thing sir. She's been taking out my troops and striking quickly. She's too fast to catch!"

"She? What do you mean the intruder's a 'she?'" This was the first he was hearing about this and he was not pleased.

"That's all I heard from one of my officer's before we were cut off."

"Do you have any idea who she is at all?"

"No sir, but some of us are speculating."

"Speculating? I don't pay you to speculate Dravus, I pay you to inform and execute!" Captain Issak was flustered now, to say the least. His face was red, his fist clasping the comlink a little too tightly. He resisted the urge to run his hand through his expertly trimmed short blonde hair. He breathed out slowly, smoothed a wrinkle on the front of his uniform and spoke with steady, even words, masking the rage that was boiling beneath his carefully preserved persona. "And what exactly have you been speculating about this intruder, Dravus?"

"That she might be a Jedi, sir."

Before Issak could think of a response, a sound, like distant blaster fire, came from somewhere around Dravus.

"Wait, hold on-" the commander started, his voice quavering, then rising to a fearful shout, the blaster shots getting louder. "Don't just stand there do someth-" Issak lost the connection. He didn't need an explanation, he already knew what had happened.

"Just two more left!" Jaden was feeling excited, elated in fact. She had been left to finish the mission on her own and was doing well!

I just hope Kyle is proud instead of angry with me, she thought.

She'd made her way through the facility rather quietly and had just diffused the third bomb. The Imperial officer that she'd killed lay a few feet away next to a large storage tank. He and his stormtroopers had tried to hide this bomb behind a cluster of four, she never would have found it if she hadn't remembered the image on the security monitor. She leaned down and grabbed the key card off his belt.

This might come in handy.

She was on her feet and racing across the area up towards a small building separate from the rest of the power station in seconds.

Captain Issak watched the spry, small figure of the Jedi expertly blocking the blaster fire of his troops and officers, watching them fall to the ground and her stepping over them to reach the charge they'd been guarding.

"Only one more." He heard her say to herself over the feed.

"So, you've disarmed all my charges, little Jedi." Issak rubbed his hands together, then formed them into fists, cracking his knuckles in rage. Slowly, he pulled his gloves from his pockets, carefully putting them on one by one, adjusting the fit, then, he turned and grasped the longstaff held by a low ranking officer to his left. He held it upright and in one swift motion brought it down, the entire staff illuminated a pale purple color, with sparks of it pulsing heavily from either end. The Jedi would pay for disrupting his carefully land plans. The Jedi would fall.

Jaden made her way back to the main building, having searched everywhere for the last bomb. Then she remembered a door outside of that control room that was locked, maybe there was something to it after all. Especially now that she had the officer's key card. There was no one to hinder her now as she reentered the main building. Approaching the door, she inserted her keycard, silently hoping that there were no more stormtroopers. There wasn't. It was much, much worse.

"We have you now!" The elegantly accented voice of the Imperial captain reached her ears before she really saw him. He was the man who'd made the remark about the Republic earlier, he looked younger than Kyle, and had eyes that were as cold as ice and blazed with a steely blue hatred. Two officers flanked him on either side, blasters ready.

"So you're the one who's behind all this trouble and ruining my perfectly laid operation," he said.

Jaden couldn't think of much to say to that and just shrugged. "Yep, pretty much."

That was dumb, Kyle would've said something way better and definitely snarky.

Issak's cold gaze never left her as he commanded his officers: "You may fire when ready."

Jaden took the officers down with just two swings of her saber. She'd gotten pretty good at blocking their shots and diverting the direction of blaster bolts over the course of this whole ordeal. It was hardly a challenge anymore.

It was just her and the captain now. The room they were in was the one with the tubes of red and blue liquid she'd seen on the monitor. They stood on a platform made of metal grates which allowed them a dizzying view below of what looked to be a very long fall into darkness.

No words were exchanged as electrostaff met lightsaber. Jaden could just see the final bomb over his shoulder, but in order to have the time to disarm it, she'd have to incapacitate him or kill him, which she didn't really want to have to do unless it was necessary. He probably had information that was vital to the Republic, if she could question him, or somehow bring him… But she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

Or maybe Kyle will finally get here and can help me.

She raised her saber to parry a strike that never came, instead she received a sharp jolt in her left shoulder from the business end of the captain's staff. She cried out in pain, her arm going limp. Her right hand gripped her saber, if he hits me again…

She blocked his next two strikes, tiring with each one.

"You're getting weak Jedi! Soon I'll be known all over the Remnant as the captain with no magical powers to kill a Jedi!" Issak laughed and advanced on her. She knew she couldn't keep this up for long. That staff was a formidable challenge to her lightsaber.

"Find a way, no matter how creative, to find the chink in your opponet's armor, and then get at that chink anyway you can…" Kyle's teaching voice reverberated through her head. Then she saw it. Dropping down, avoiding the captain's right to left swing aimed at her useless left shoulder, she let go of her saber and drew her blaster in her good hand, firing at Issak's exposed side. The two bolts hit him in his right side and he fell down, releasing the staff from his grip, it rolled across the grated floor towards the edge.

"No!" He screamed, Jaden thrust out her right hand and the electrostaff went flying over the edge and into darkness, clanging loudly as it went, finally landing at the bottom with a sharp thud. Jaden flexed the fingers of her left hand as she holstered her weapon and picked up her lightsaber, the feeling slowly coming back as if it had fallen asleep on her.

She approached Issak, the point of her violet blade aimed at his neck. "Okay now, this is how it's going to work, I'm gonna diffuse that bomb, and you're going to come with me and tell me everything you know about the Remnant and a Sith cult that's associated with a Sith Lord named Marka Ragnos."

"Ha! Never heard of them!" The captain smirked. Jaden didn't like that look. Left hand feeling a lot better, she grabbed him by the collar and put the blade horizontally across his neck.

"Oh I think you have. And trust me, you'd be better off telling me than waiting until I get you to my superiors." Was she lying? Jaden didn't like lying. Ever. And she knew her words were as empty as they sounded. They lacked conviction and meaning, and Captain Issak knew that.

"Oh I don't believe you, but so that you won't have the satisfaction of trying to bring me in, I'll do your 'superiors' a favor." He bit down hard on something in the back of his mouth and his face suddenly lit up with blue lightning, grunting before falling deathly silent. Jaden jumped back, aghast and covered her mouth with her left hand, a single sob escaping her throat.

That cold, clammy feeling claimed her again as she dragged herself away from the dead captain. I failed, I can't even intimidate an enemy into believing me. What use am I if I have to lie in a true life or death scenario where someone else's life is on the line? She shook her head. It wasn't all about intimidation but presence. A Jedi's job wasn't to instill fear, but to bring peace to the galaxy. But was some fear needed in order to bring that peace?

She walked over to the bomb and disarmed it, then sank to her knees, exhausted.

"That does it!" She muttered to herself, taking several deep, trembling breaths before standing up.

"Better get back to my ship." She was sure the facility was empty now, she'd explored practically every inch of it. She headed back to the entrance, having to retrace her steps a few times before finally finding it. She stared at the ground mostly, feeling exhausted, not looking up until she got back to her ship, which was why she was surprised when she saw the Raven's Claw standing behind her X-wing. Kyle was leaning against her ship, arms crossed, an eyebrow raised. She didn't have many memories of her real father, but that look was unmistakable.

"I see you waited up for me," he said evenly. There wasn't much she could say. Yeah, sure, everything had turned out alright, she disarmed the bombs and saved the station and the local population, but she'd disobeyed a direct order.

"There's not much I can say that will excuse my actions."

"You got that right," he said, "But in this case I'd say your actions excuse everything."

"Excuse me?"

"I land here several hours late, ready to give you the lecture of the century, then see you walking out of that power station, head down and exhausted. I don't have to know what happened in there to know that you did the right thing. But of course I'm gonna need you to fill me in on everything." He heaved a sigh and nodded his head towards the facility. "Is anyone left in there?"

"No, I combed every inch searching for some bombs that the Remnant planted in there. I confronted their leader, a captain I think. I tried to get some information out of him but he… Well, I don't know what he used, but he killed himself with it…"

"Sounds like he used an electro shock pill," Kyle guessed.

"I guess that's what it was."

"You don't fight Imperials and expect to not see them use stuff like that. When I was an Imperial, we used to have to carry them around with us before they started implanting them before every mission. Luckily I'd stopped being an Imperial by the time that was required. Us Rebels used to call 'em Lullabies. The main point is that the captain was a coward either way."

"Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, I got all five bombs. But I'd send in a cleanup crew to secure the station and make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Good idea Jaden, now you're thinking strategically. I'm proud of what you accomplished here today. Let's get back to the Academy and get some rest huh?" He started back towards the Raven's Claw.

"Oh hey, how was the mission on Naboo?"

Kyle stiffened. "It uh… took longer than expected. I also lost my comlink, that's why I couldn't check in with you. Sorry about that, I'm sure you were concerned."

"I was, I called you several times, but it's alright." Jaden put her hands in her pockets. "But how was it out there on Naboo? What was it about again? A small political dispute right?"

Kyle looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

"Well… not exactly, it ended up being more than that."

"And…?" Jaden didn't have to have the Force to sense the embarrassment Kyle was clearly feeling at some memory that was making him squirm. "You don't want to tell me, do you?"

"Rosh and I promised each other."

Jaden threw her hands up. "Rosh too?! Am I never gonna know?"

"Not if we can help it."

"You know it's just going to make me want to know more! C'mon it can just be between us three?"

"Not on your life Jaden." Kyle actually was walking away now. Frustrated and tired beyond her strength, Jaden turned toward her ship.

"Sithspit!" She cursed under her breath as she eased into the cockpit. "Now I'm not going to get any rest knowing something probably more exciting than today happened on Naboo! And with Kyle and Rosh of all people!"

"Jaden?" She jumped suddenly, then saw Kyle just outside of her window. She reopened the cockpit.

"You feel guilty and want to tell me about your mission?" She asked hopefully, putting on a showy smile.

"Nope, I meant to tell you this earlier but sense I've already told Rosh, I want you to know too. It's about the shuttle crash, I've been looking into it."

Jaden felt her arms get cold and goosebumps start to spread. "What is it?"

"It doesn't look like laser damage or a mechanical failure was responsible." Kyle paused, seeming at a loss. "It's almost as if something just... tore apart the engines."

The memory of the flash and the screaming void flooded back. "What if it was that… that thing I saw those people carrying at the Massassi Temple."

"The scepter?" Kyle touched his chin, his brow creasing in concentration. "That is a possibility. I bet it's some kind of a weapon or a power source. I'll have to get back to Luke and talk to him about it." He paused again, as if weighing a decision. "By the way, you're the only one I'm telling this too but while Luke and I attended to the crashed shuttle, someone broke into his quarters and sliced into his records. Luke has Artoo trying to figure out what they may be looking for, but so far nothing that he's told me yet."

Jaden nodded slowly, proud to have been included in an Academy secret.

"What about the cult?" She asked, "Do you have more info on them yet?"

Kyle shrugged. "Well, it's definitely getting more serious as each day passes. We've been receiving numerous reports of a Sith cult or a cult called the Disciples of Ragnos appearing all over the galaxy. Although some of them are just rumors."

"But it could be true?"

"Maybe, our job is to try and separate fact from fiction. We can't answer every call based on a rumor so we have to pick and choose our battles. I wouldn't worry about it now.

"Also," Kyle said before turning to go again. "If you happen to remember anything more of that day, even the smallest detail, please let either me or Luke know as soon as you do okay?"

"I will."

"Good, I'll see you back at the Academy."

Jaden watched him return to the Raven's Claw, a feeling of shame filling her. How could she tell Kyle about that empty, screaming darkness at the Massassi Temple? It seemed a distant memory now. A long lost nightmare that one quickly forgets when awakened to the light of day. It seemed lunacy even to her that she'd experienced it. What would Kyle think? Take her out of the field? Especially if she told him that she felt the darkness hadn't truly let her go, even when she had regained consciousness? No, too dangerous, she'd figure out how to deal with it on her own, the Academy's archives was a rich library of information. She'd find her answers there first before resorting to telling Kyle or Luke. She flew back to the Academy, head full of thoughts and memories that she really didn't want to think of.

She tried but didn't get a word out of Rosh about Naboo, not even when she told him all the gory details of that day at the power station. Well, not all the details. Witnessing someone use a suicide shocker was not something she'd share with anyone else, at least not with the other students.

The red Twi'lek brushed her head tail off her shoulder as she approached the door to the bridge. Her master was not going to like this. Not that she was afraid of her, but there was a certain… apprehension when it came to delivering bad news to her. She stepped on deck and followed the pathway where on either side, officers busied themselves at the various monitors in the trenches that lined it. She stopped a few feet behind the ship's captain, who was gazing out the window into deep space, not acknowledging her.

The Twi'lek cocked a brow at the dark purple peeking out from under a slightly askew bandage along the upper part of her master's left arm near the shoulder. Another tattoo? She already had a matching checkerboard pattern on both forearms, she wondered what this one was of. Not that she'd get an answer if she asked. She'd have to wait until it healed for that.

"Progress report?" Her master asked, still facing straight ahead.

"Captain Issak's operation on Bakura… has failed." There was no response so she continued, "someone infiltrated the facility and killed all our troops. The charges were set but disarmed. My scouts tell me that the Republic has sent in a crew to secure the station."

"Who?"

"Pardon?"

"Who was it that foiled Issak's plans?"

"We don't know who exactly, but my sources are certain it was… a Jedi. One of Skywalker's students."

"Under him or someone else?" Her master turned her face only slightly in her apprentice's direction.

"Uncertain at the moment." She paused, trying to sense whether or not her master would be set off by her lack of information. The moment passed and her master spoke.

"Very well. Come to me when you have more information."

The Twi'lek bowed her head. "Yes, Master."